St. Peter’s Basilica Guide

The current St. Peter’s Basilica – built over the site of the original 4th-century Constantinian church – was one of the most ambitious projects of the Renaissance. Taking more than 120 years to complete before its consecration in 1626, it united the genius of Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Bernini under a single soaring vision. At 190 meters long and crowned by a dome that rises 136 meters above the floor, it remains the largest church in the world, capable of welcoming 60,000 worshippers at once.

Yet St. Peter’s is far more than a feat of scale. Its chapels, sculptures, and altars form a living museum of faith and art, a place where the achievements of Renaissance and Baroque Rome come together in breathtaking harmony. No story of Western art can be told without a visit to St. Peter’s, and the basilica can lay a strong claim to being the most spectacular church in existence. To help you make the most of your visit, this guide explores its history, masterpieces, highlights, and essential visitor tips for one of the most awe-inspiring sites on earth.

The story of St. Peter’s Basilica goes all the way back to the time of the Emperor Nero, and the notorious fire that razed Rome to the ground in 64 AD. Seeking a scapegoat for a devastating inferno that he may well have started for his own ends, Nero hit upon the idea of blaming the eccentric and widely mistrusted new religious sect known as the Christians. You can learn more about the megalomaniac Nero and his tyrannical reign by visiting the extraordinary Domus Aurea, or Golden House of Nero – one of our favourite things to do in Rome.

The unscrupulous emperor ushered in a wave of persecution, and hundreds of members of the upstart religion were tortured and crucified in the Circus of Nero. Circus means racetrack in Latin – you will probably encounter the largest ancient racetrack of all when in Rome, the Circus Maximus – but alongside the usual business of breakneck chariot races, the cruel tyrant decided to add some blood sport to the entertainment. The location of Nero’s Circus? Across the river to the north-west of central Rome on the Vatican Hill.

Amongst the Christians executed in the Circus was one of Christ’s oldest companions, a certain fisherman from Bethsaida by the name of Peter, whom Jesus himself had anointed as the spiritual leader of the new faith. Peter requested that he be crucified upside-down as he considered himself unworthy to emulate the Messiah’s own crucifixion on Golgotha 30 years prior. The Roman authorities agreed, and Peter met his end with his eyes inches from the earth of Circus.

The site of St. Peter’s martyrdom soon became an important place of worship for the clandestine Christian community, and soon after the emperor Constantine finally legalized Christianity in the year 313 AD, a great church was built over the apostle’s tomb with the Emperor’s blessing.

For over a millennium Constantine’s great basilica stood as the epicenter of Christianity, drawing Christians from across the world to Rome. The centuries inevitably took their toll, however, and by the opening years of the 1500s the church was in a state of terminal decline, slowly sinking into the foundations of the ancient circus.

Despite many influential voices calling for the Constantinian basilica to be repaired on account of its spiritual and historic importance, the ambitious Pope Julius II – whom you might know as Michelangelo’s patron in the Sistine Chapel – decided that the only thing to be done was to build a massive new state-of-the-art church on the same site. Sparing no expense, Julius entrusted the enormous responsibility of designing Christianity’s most important edifice to Donato Bramante, the father of High Renaissance architecture.

Julius and Bramante died within a year of each other however, and the architect’s controversial plan for a domed, centrally-planned building (that is, in the form of a cross with equal length arms) inspired by the Pantheon was put on ice.

Various illustrious Renaissance artists and architects, including Raphael, proposed designs to complete Bramante’s church, but the devastating Sack of Rome in 1527 meant that little progress was made for decades. In 1547, Pope Paul III surprisingly made the aged Michelangelo supervisor on the project, at the grand old age of 71. The decision proved to be a masterstroke.

Michelangelo only took on the job only with great reluctance and after much grumbling, disdaining the plans of his predecessor Antonio da Sangallo. He soon set about entirely revising the plans for the church, and it’s to Michelangelo that we owe the basilica’s distinctive undulating interior and the massive dome crowning its center – still the world’s tallest, half a millennium later.

Michelangelo took inspiration from the two greatest largest domes in Italy at the time – the ancient Pantheon in Rome and Brunelleschi’s Renaissance Duomo in Florence – to come up with an elegant double-shelled construction that was capable of supporting the massive dome, which weighs in at an eye-watering 40,000 tonnes. The dome rises 136.57 meters, or 448 feet, over the floor of St. Peter’s basilica, and is supported by four mighty piers each fully 120 meters tall.

The new church took over 150 years to complete, and Michelangelo too died before the work was done. The basilica was given its final shape by Carlo Maderno, who added two more bays to the church in order to transform it into the shape of a more theologically resonant Latin cross and designed the facade.

Giacomo Della Porta was the final architect to have a hand in the work, finally completing the dome in 1590. If you want to see what Michelangelo’s church would have looked like in its entirety, keep an eye out for a fresco of the proposed project in the vestibule of the Vatican Library as you are making your way to the exit of the Vatican Museums from the Sistine Chapel.

A popular urban legend recounts that the Lateran Pact (the agreement between the church and the Italian state that brought the Vatican City into existence) forbids any buildings that reach higher than Michelangelo’s cupola to be built in Rome; whilst the oft-repeated claim has no basis in fact, it does seem something of an unwritten rule that St. Peter’s remains the reference point for any construction projects in the Eternal City, and to this day it remains the city center’s highest point.

The 2025 Jubilee celebrations makes this year a very exciting time to visit St. Peter’s, which will be at the epicenter of all the action. While the atmosphere will be incredible, this will also make visiting St. Peter’s Basilica more crowded than usual, as millions of pilgrims flock to Rome. Expect longer security lines, restricted access on major event days, and possible closures for papal ceremonies. Planning ahead is crucial – consider booking a guided tour for priority entry and expert insights. That way, you won’t have to worry about unexpected disruptions putting a spanner in the works!

To decorate the vast new church, many of the finest artists of the Renaissance and Baroque eras contributed artworks to the interior. Amongst the highlights to look out for in St. Peter’s are:

• Michelangelo’s wonderful Pietà
• Bernini’s Longinus and the Crossing Sculptures
• The Baldacchino
• John Paul II’s grave
• Arnolfo di Cambio’s statue of St. Peter
• The Cathedra Petri, or St. Peter’s Chair

These artworks are only the beginning, however. To find out what you need to see, check out our detailed guide to the highlights of St. Peter’s below.

It’s likely that you will want to visit the Vatican Museums alongside St. Peter’s when in Rome. Usually you can’t enter St. Peter’s directly from the Vatican Museums – you will have to exit and then make your way around the walls to St. Peter’s square, where you’ll have to join the long queue. But if you take a special guided Vatican tour, you will be able to bypass this and reach the basilica directly from the Sistine Chapel via a special exit, skipping the lines.

Remember the dress code. If your shoulders and knees aren’t covered, you will be refused admission. So leave the hot-pants at home and bring a scarf or shawl.